the aides to boehner and obama are still there. there are times the though even this week that it will get frustrated and stop talking to each other. i'm not sure if they're talking today or taking the day off. obama said yesterday that this could get done in about a week. i think he might be right. republicans see the writing on the wall when it comes to tax increases. what they're interested in now is making sure they get spending cuts to go along with the tax increases. when obama put his additional offer, he said $1.60 trillion in tax increases and we will delay the spending cuts until next year. that was the initial offer. republicans want to make sure that the spending cuts go up and become more immediate. considering that obama has been open to spending cuts in previous negotiations and says he is open to it now and republicans have changed from where they were a year ago when it comes to tax increases, i think it will not take too much to get their, although there are still obstacles. host: the $1.60 trillion and $800 billi